James Wilson, an artist and composer from London, co-created Lo-Fi Dance Party: Funky Electro Indie alongside his musical partner Julian (together the duo make up Builders Tea), Joseph Murphy and Gem Jones. We spoke to James about how the album was recorded during the lockdown and how all the creatives worked together from afar.
Lo-Fi Dance Party is is a high energy, funky indie album, produced in low-fidelity sound quality. It’s jam-packed with quirky percussion, makeshift beats and kooky synths, guaranteed to make you want to jump up and dance.
How did you work with the other composers and artists to create this album?
Julian and I started by separating off and recording our own rough sessions, then sharing and comparing. We then chose favourite tracks or track elements to develop and started building into songs and full arrangements. With the vocalists, Gem and Joe, we started sending them demos to work on vocal ideas.
What was your creative process when creating this album? How did lockdown affect the process?
Lockdown didn’t have a huge impact on our work process as we live in different countries (France and UK) so we’re quite used to recording separately and collaborating that way. We share various parts and build off of each other’s jams. I might write a guitar part, Julian will track drums, then we build it out.
How did you establish the albums sound in your writing and performance?
The brief suited our lofi homegrown sound approach and sound. Not too polished (aka unprofessional). We recorded and re-sampled lots of elements through amps and pedals to get a rougher sound which was good fun.
Which track is your favourite on the album?
Down for the ride! Listen to it here.
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